COLUMBUS -- It's the most important thing Ohio State safeties coach Paul Haynes drums into the heads of his players -- don't get beat deep. And it almost never happens.

"I think we've been doing a pretty good job," OSU senior cornerback Malcolm Jenkins said. "But that doesn't matter unless we do a good job Saturday, and we know we'll get tested this week."

No team in the Big Ten challenges a secondary like Illinois, which leads the conference with 39 pass plays of 20-or-more yards this season. The Buckeyes have given up only 16 long pass plays and only six of them have gone for more than 30 yards.

Part of that is the discipline of safeties Kurt Coleman and Anderson Russell, who divide the deep part of the field in OSU's typical Cover 2 zone defense and keep everything in front of them. Another part is the coverage of corners Donald Washington, Chimdi Chekwa and, especially, Jenkins, who has played at an All-American level. Russell usually plays the shorter side of the field, backing up Jenkins, and has seen teams unwilling to test the senior. And part of that is the spread offense -- teams pass often, but usually with quick drops and short throws.

"I think everyone has the [deep ball] in their system, but when I think about the spread offense, it's a little bit more of a controlled passing game," Haynes said. "But then it gets you to move up, move up, move up, and then they take their shot. That's something I always talk to them about when they get off the field. I tell them it's coming this series."

Against Illinois, that may actually be true. Illini quarterback Juice Williams burned the Buckeyes in last season's 28-21 upset win -- especially on play-action passes. Coming in with a reputation as a runner, Williams threw for a season-high four touchdowns, hitting two of more than 30 yards when the safeties sucked up. Jenkins was playing safety in OSU's nickel defense last year, which he no longer does.

Williams is a far more dangerous, if similarly erratic, passer this season. He has thrown for 2,769 yards, more than 1,000 more than his season total last year, though he's thrown even more interceptions, 14 compared to 12 last year. Williams leads the conference in both categories, with seven of the picks coming in his past three games.

"Juice started off the way everyone expected him to play and now we've been turning the ball over, and that's our biggest problem," Illinois coach Ron Zook said. "It's not all Juice's fault. But we have to right the ship. He's a guy when he's playing the way he's capable of playing, I think he has a chance to be an awfully good player."

Williams also leads the conference in one of the most important stats for a quarterback, yards per attempt, a measure of how much bang for the buck a quarterback is getting each time he puts it up. What might surprise fans is that Ohio State's Terrelle Pryor ranks second.

"It matters to me," Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said of that stat, "but I think that's affirmed by the fact that in the passing efficiency formula, that's one of the most impactful parts in that formula."

Pryor actually ranks first, just ahead of Williams, in the Big Ten in passing efficiency. Check out one more stat on the quarterbacks. Though the Buckeyes are 10th in the conference in the total number of big passing plays, examine the breakdown of big plays per passes thrown.